Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current, February 19, 2020, Image 1
DawsonCountyNews WEDNESDAY I FEBRUARY 19, 2020 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00 Search continues for missing hiker By Jessica Taylor jtaylor@dawsonnews.com The multi-agency search for an Appalachian Trail hiker that went miss ing in Dawson County late last week is now continuing into a third day, authori ties say. During a press conference on Tuesday morning, Dawson County Fire Chief Danny Thompson announced that the search for Eddie Noonkester, a North Carolina man that embarked on the Appalachian Trail on Friday, Feb. 14, will continue today, with multiple agencies searching the trail in Dawson County and the sur rounding areas. According to Thompson, the search for Noonkester began on Noonkester received a call expressing con cern for Noonkester’s health. Around 11:20 a.m. on Sunday shortly after the call, Noonkester himself called the Dawson County 911 and was interviewed by an on-duty battalion chief, Thompson said. “In speaking with Eddie, it did appear that he sounded confused Sunday after Dawson County authorities initially,” Thompson said. Authorities believe that Noonkester became disoriented and may be suffer ing from a medical emergency. “We’ve spoken to the family. He doesn’t have any known medical issues but he does have a family history of dementia,” Thompson said. “Family and friends have shared some information with us that they feel he may have been over the last several months exhibiting See Hiker 13A Finding facts in the forest Jessica Taylor Dawson County News A sign reading "keep out" and a barbed wire fence are still in place around the remains of the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory inside Dawson Forest in Dawsonville. Discovering what happened inside the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Lab By Jessica Taylor jtaylor@dawsonnews.com Over half a century later, rumors still swirl around Dawson Forest and the mysterious remnants of Dawson County’s past in the Cold War. Though the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Facility has been out of commission for nearly 50 years, local residents can still be heard whispering about two- headed deer and oak leaves the size of elephant ears spotted around the nucle ar facility’s remains. For nuclear engineer and author, Dr. James Mahaffey, the task of unraveling the history behind Dawson County’s top-secret nuclear test site and separat ing facts from the fiction has led to decades of research and hard work. “Everything we knew started out as a rumor, and some of them were right and some of them were wrong,” Mahaffey said. “Not so much anymore but back then everything nuclear was, by its nature, a secret.” Since his graduate studies at Georgia Tech in the 1970s, Mahaffey has com piled research on the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Faboratory (GNAF) which has been published in his 2017 book Atomic Adventures where he discusses what happened behind closed doors at the site. “It just gradually shaped into this fantastic facility. It was a singular facility. It wasn’t like anything else in the world and it was in Dawsonville,” Mahaffey said. “It was out in the woods. That’s what they wanted. They wanted it where nobody would sneak around and want to know what it was, but that didn’t work.” Rumors immediately began circulat ing when locals caught wind of a secretive laboratory being built inside the forest. In the late 1950s, the United States Air Force purchased property in Dawson Forest to build the GNAF which was then operated by Fockheed Martin. The site needed to be devel oped in order for it to house the nucle ar reactors, firehouse, administration building and the radiation effects facil ity which meant clear cutting thou sands of trees, Mahaffey said. “You couldn’t be on the property unless you had a security clearance and logging truck drivers didn’t have security clearances,” Mahaffey said. “What they did was they just piled up all these dead trees, thousands of dead trees in the exact center of the thing and set fire to it.” When Mahaffey conducted inter views for his research, he recalls first hand witnesses reporting red and orange glowing skies that spread over Dawsonville. “The yellow glow from this huge bonfire reflected off the clouds and people in the area within miles of the place would see that and they were thinking this very secretive atomic place, this is the end of the world,” Mahaffey said. Theories ran wild and unrestrained during the lab’s tenure in the county. Mahaffey said a popular rumor that circulated was that the facility was built to study flying saucers that had 45 firearms, narcotics seized from residence By Alexander Popp apopp@dawsonnews.com A burglary in the city of Oakwood and a stolen vehicle in Forsyth County led state and local authorities to arrest a Dawsonville man last week, charging the man for dozens of illegal firearms and a large quantity of narcotics which were seized during a search of his home. Johnny Alfred Pritchard IV, 45, of Dawson County was taken into custody on Sunday, Feb. 9, after officers with the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, Oakwood Police Department, Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Natural Resources executed a search warrant at an address on Kelly Bridge Road in Dawson County, Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson said in a press release on Thursday. See Guns|5A GDOT eyes Ga. 136 bridge replacement at Hall-Dawson line By Jeff Gill DCN Regional Staff A 64-year-old bridge at the Hall- Dawson County line is being eyed for replacement, with the state describing the structure as “functionally obsolete due to the narrow deck width.” A recent Georgia Department of Transportation environmental report about the bridge on Price Road/Ga. 136 says the deck has “severe cracking and (areas) with exposed rebar.” Also, “the bridge is classified as having an unknown foundation and therefore could be at risk for scour,” or sediment erosion around the base of the bridge. “Replacement of this bridge is recom mended,” the report says. “Once we have environmental approv al, we will begin purchasing right of way, including obtaining permits from (the Army Corps of Engineers),” district spokeswoman Katie Strickland said in a recent email. The bridge crosses the Chestatee River See Bridge 14A See Forest 17A 0 9 0 9 9 Inside Volume 4, Number 82 © 2020, Dawson County News Dawsonville, Georgia Church Events 3B Classifieds 7B Dear Abby 6B Deaths 2A Legals 8B Opinion 9A Sports 1B 4A Sexual assault kit initiative expanded 6A Jessica Taylor L learns what life is like working in 911 dispatch NORTHSIDE FAMILY MEDICINE & URGENT CARE DAWSON 81 Northside Dawson Drive, Suite 100 Dawsonville, GA 30534 Monday - Sunday: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Call 706-216-6000 for an appointment NorthsideUrgentCare.com Welcoming New Patients! Northside Family Medicine & Urgent Care is here for the needs of your entire family. You'll find a commitment to personalized care, with a focus on communication. For your busy lifestyle, we offer extended office hours and weekend appointments to help you find time for the routine medical care you and your family need. We accept most insurance plans, and offer a convenient location for the Dawsonville community on the Northside/Dawson Medical Campus. Services • Routine medical care • Blood sugar checks and diabetes management • Hypertension screening and management • Allergy treatment • Physical exams (by appointment only) • Sports/School physicals